Should Rangers drop this off-form star?

Only two months ago Rangers fans, your Ibrox Noise crew included, were singing the praises of sensational summer signing Alfredo Morelos.

When linked with him, we cited him as the potential Rangers answer to Moussa Dembele – an unheralded forward that could be a hidden gem. And when he went on that hot streak in August to mid-September, we really thought we had hit the jackpot.

A tiger of a striker, and a tank of a man, scoring goals for fun. He was on fire, and English sides were suddenly in for him – threats of a January sale loomed given his increasing value to Rangers, and fans prayed we could hold onto the guy a little longer.

Fast forward to 19th of November – as horrible as it is to say, Morelos is growing into a dreadful flop.

The guy does not lack industry, heart, or effort, but when we really look at the guy’s stats, we begin to wonder how he managed a hot streak at all, rather than wondering why he has gone cold.

Morelos has managed 18 appearances at Ibrox – he has only scored in 5 matches.

Some perspective please gentlemen and ladies – yes, in three of those matches he scored two goals (one of those being in the league cup, incidentally), but the harsh reality is he has failed to deliver in 13 of 18, and by any stretch of the imagination, that is dreadful.

We do like the lad – albeit, not so much the pathetic play-acting which blighted him not that long ago, but his graft, persistence and endeavour are admirable. And we like those who fight for the shirt.

But sorry guys, he is here to score goals. We do not need two Kenny Millers up front – we do not need two hard working grafters with a lack of cutting edge. Morelos was brought in because of his brilliant record in Finland; and that record is starting to look meaningless.

The Colombian has not scored in nine matches. That is an acceptable drought, but not at the level of the SPL. Even Motherwell’s recently-barren Louis Moult scored a double at Pittodrie yesterday, but for love nor money Morelos is just drawing a blank after blank.

It is time to give the lad a rest. He is low on confidence, and every passing match he does not score hits that even more.

Rangers have a number of attacking options; Eduardo Herrera was actually coming onto a bit of a game earlier in the season, and Ryan Hardie has never been given anything like a real chance at this club.

But whatever the manager (whoever that is) decides, it is surely time to give Morelos a breather.

Players should be dropped when their form is poor – and at a club like Rangers, there should always be another option when the primary one is not delivering.

If Bruno Alves can lose his place, anyone can.

NB: we do admire Morelos’ ethic, and his commitment. This article is not meant to be a hate fest, albeit we know the usual suspects will accuse us of being anti-Rangers. Far from it. We want the best players, and the in-form players playing for us. Right now, that is not Alfredo Morelos. If Pena can be ditched for being completely ineffective, why does Morelos get away with it?